In this 4th
and final installment of the 4-part series, addressing concerns of
Florida's proposed “Medical Marijuana” Amendment 2, we
look at medical effects of marijuana on health. The proposed state
constitutional amendment to legalise 'Medical Marijuana,' will be on
the ballot, this Election Day, Tuesday, November 04, 2014 – or
sooner, for those who chose to vote early, at various polling
locations, or vote absentee by postal mail.

Part I, addressing the
'Legal' aspects of the proposed amendment, showed clear and definite
proof that even in states where “Medical Marijuana” was
legalised and patients complied with state laws, ordinary citizens
were sometimes arrested on Federal charges, due to the fact that
Federal Law trumps all state law –even State Constitutions
–something that is not a widely-known fact. Part II gave a fair
and balanced, and fairly-complete Scriptural analysis, with both
pro's and con's, using the Christian Bible (Old and New Testaments)
as it source text. Part III looked at Portugal’s
decriminalisation of all drugs to see if this model would work for
America, looking at health and crime rate effects of the Portuguese
criminal justice system.

(
#1 ) – First, and very important, we ask whether marijuana is
more dangerous for children?
(I.e., does marijuana cause problems with brain development in
children teenagers if they begin using in their youth?)

That looks to be true:
“Persistent cannabis use was associated with neuropsychological
decline broadly across domains of functioning, even after controlling
for years of education.”

Source: “Persistent
cannabis users show neuropsychological decline from childhood to
midlife,” Abstract, National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America, By Madeline H. Meier, et al., Edited by Michael I.
Posner, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, and approved July 30, 2012
(received for review April 23, 2012) –
http://www.pnas.org/content/109/40/E2657.abstract
– C.f.: http://www.rjbf.com/PNAS_Meier.pdf

This fact is disturbing
in light of the easy availability of drugs, in general. PolitiFact
reports that the 'Monitoring the Future study,' conducted at the
University of Michigan, surveyed about 50 thousand American 8th, 10th
and 12th graders, and found the following:

“Nearly 58
percent of 8th graders said it was fairly easy or very easy to get
alcohol compared with 37 percent saying the same of marijuana

More than 78 percent
of 10th graders said alcohol was fairly easy or very easy to get
while just shy of 69 percent said the same of marijuana.

Almost 91 percent of
12th graders said alcohol was fairly easy or very easy to get
compared with nearly 82 percent saying the same for marijuana”

“The
most toxic recreational drugs, such as GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate)
and heroin, have a lethal dose less than 10 times their typical
effective dose...The least physiologically toxic substances, those
requiring 100 to 1,000 times the effective dose to cause death,
include psilocybin mushrooms and marijuana, when ingested. I've found
no published cases in the English language that document deaths from
smoked marijuana, so the actual lethal dose is a mystery. My surmise
is that smoking marijuana is more risky than eating it but still
safer than getting drunk.”

(
#3 ) – Third: Likewise, we ask: Is
weed addictive?The
Scientist also
reports the following: “Heroin and methamphetamine are the most
addictive by this measure. Cocaine, pentobarbital (a fast-acting
sedative), nicotine and alcohol are next, followed by marijuana and
possibly caffeine. Some hallucinogens—notably LSD, mescaline
and psilocybin—have little or no potential for creating
dependence.”

PolitiFact,
while 'liberal,' is considered unbiased and accurate. They had this
to say: “We consulted three other sources, all of which agreed
that marijuana is the lesser of addictive evils when compared with
tobacco. In addition to a 2008 report issued by a British research
foundation, both Dr. Neal L. Benowitz of the University of California
at San Francisco and Dr. Jack E. Henningfield of the National
Institute on Drug Abuse ranked marijuana below nicotine when it comes
to withdrawal, dependence, tolerance and intoxication...A Harvard
Medical School psychiatrist agreed that of the three, alcohol is the
most addictive in terms of withdrawal. He and other experts we
contacted also agreed that alcohol and tobacco are more difficult to
give up than marijuana, and said it’s easier to become
dependent on alcohol and tobacco in the first place.”

**
PERSONAL TESTIMONY:
However, this author (Gordon Wayne Watts) has a close personal friend
whom he has known to use marijuana for several decades, since high
school. While I shall keep anonymous the name of my friend (unless he
should chose to come forward), I will go on record as stating that my
friend has reported to me that he has stopped smoking marijuana and
been free of it since the 15th
of August, over a month ago. My friend reports that not only has his
memory improved by “a hundred (100) times,” but also he
states that weed was very addictive for him: To clarify, he claims
that, while weed helped him with anger-management issues, this
benefit was temporary, and that even after 3-4 days (of no weed: he
ran out of money and/or could not find a supplier), he had horrible
withdrawal symptoms, and that he was cranky and had rebound effects
with his temper and anger. (Caveat: Not all people are affected the
same.) He also reported that many of his friends claims that they
“could quit” any time they wanted, but did not –
because, he claims, they were addicted.

So,
marijuana is probably both
toxic (poison) and
addictive, even if less so than alcohol. But some of the addiction is
psychological, even if not physiological. And, ANY addiction –with
its requisite withdrawal symptoms – can be bad. Even when the
toxicity is less than sufficient to kill, marijuana does affect motor
skills. (I
hope I don't have to cite a scientific study for this: This should be
a well-known fact, and “driving impaired” is illegal –
no matter the drug – even if it is a prescription drug,
impaired driving is dangerous and illegal.)

(
#4 ) – Fourth and last,
we look at Polk County, Fla., Sheriff Grady Judd's claim:
“If you thought the medical marijuana initiative was intended
to truly help those debilitated by serious diseases, think again.
Authors of the amendment have included a truck-sized loophole in the
definition of debilitating diseases [which would allow] ...people who
alleged minor ailments such as muscle spasms, neck pain, back pain
and even menstrual cramps have qualified for government sanctioned
pot smoking.”

(This claim, by
Sheriff Judd, while technically not a “Medical and Health
effect,” but rather a legal loophole in the proposed amendment,
was an important concern I overlooked in the legal and political
analyses in prior installments, so I shall insert it here, in this
medical analysis.)

Is
Judd correct? I have looked at the language of the
ballot (posted on the Fla. Supreme Court's website in this ruling:
http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2014/sc13-2006.pdf),
and I agree this is quite plausible. Also, even the liberal
PolitiFact rates his claim as “Mostly True”: “Judd
said that people with "minor ailments" could get access to
marijuana if Florida’s proposed amendment
passes...[because]...compared to most other states, Florida’s
ballot language is flexible because it allows for physicians to
determine whether a patient’s condition qualifies for a
license. We rate Judd’s statement Mostly True.”

They also rated as
“Mostly True” the following claims by the 'Don't Let
Florida Go To Pot' anti-pot group, on Tuesday, May 20th, 2014 in the
group's website, when the group is quoted as claiming: “"Less
than 5 percent of registered users in states allowing medical
marijuana have cancer or AIDS."” – The liberal
PolitiFact reported that: “But the available evidence does
suggest fairly strongly that the people who use medical marijuana for
cancer or AIDS is a small percentage of all users. We rate the
statement Mostly True.”